In conversation with Raghav Jain, COO and Co-Founder of TalentPad, which was earlier known as TalentAuction

The awareness and attraction for technology-enabled solutions has grown tremendously and is a proof that the market is ripe for disruption. The early adopters of technology are showing significant benefits, encouraging other organizations to adopt the same. Recruiting is one function where technology and analytics have brought significant changes in the way it functions. From sourcing to screening, data plays a very crucial role in helping organizations hire the right candidates.

Here is how technology has made the three stages of recruitment more convenient and efficient for organizations:

Sourcing: There has been a remarkable change in the way organizations devise their sourcing strategies, especially when it comes to sourcing candidates on a recurring basis. Companies which are smartly leveraging social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have been able to build a strong presence within their target audience. Social channels are largely used by organizations as a way to depict their culture, values and vision.

Mobile is another innovative channel to build a strong employer brand. Given the growing mobile penetration, most of an employer’s target audience is there and working towards having a strong mobile presence speaks a lot about the company and their openness to adopting technology. A few mobile initiatives that companies have taken to catch the eyeball of potential talent are having a user-friendly mobile site, app presence and so on. Initiatives like these and many others have led employers to build an aspired brand attracting the best talent.

Screening: The next step is to weed out irrelevant candidates for which technology providers are offering screening solutions. There are several online skill assessment tools that enable organizations to map a candidate’s skills with the job requirement. Some matching tools also provide compatibility scores mapping the job description with the candidate profile, helping organizations take the right decision.

It is also very important to understand the culture, likes and dislikes of the candidates and then mapping that with the organizational culture to find the right fit. Organizations are also benefitting from video resume applications, providing deeper insights into the candidate profile.

Interviewing: Technology and data insights have made interviewing a much more informed and a speedy process. Some of the technologies that have enabled more insightful interviewing are remote/video interviewing tools. Technology has significantly reduced the time taken in the recruitment process by enabling efficient communication between various stakeholders involved in an interviewing process through more advanced internal tools.

Data-oriented approach for a focused search

Data is the key to making the right choice, breaking the cluster of a large talent pool available through social media and other technology enabled modes. A strong recruitment technology service provider always has a data-centric approach where he first looks at the existing data to study the past successful recruits of the organization and then does a targeted search and a focused marketing activity across various platforms to reach out to the right set of people.Moreover, a good recruitment technology service provider not only lays huge emphasis on the culture of the organization ensuring that the candidates are not attracted towards an opportunity rather an organization, but also provides equal value to the candidate experience in the recruitment process.

Organizations of different scale and size face different challenges, be it in sourcing or screening candidates. However, one thing that is crucial to all is building a strong employer brand. Irrespective of the size, organizations should at all times be conscious of their reputation as an employer brand as that is what can attract or repel talent.

Organizations also need to be cautious of the level of data-orientation of the recruitment technology service provider before choosing one. Lastly, technology is only a facilitator. The real differentiator is the value that a service provider imparts to the organization and the candidates.